Trump repeat of need to take control of Greenland raises concerns, stirs debate

Dear President Trump, listen very carefully. Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for 800 years. It’s an integrated part of our country. It is not for sale,

Vistisen said

Lars Løkke Rasmussendenmark Foreign Minister

Of course, we can't have a world order where countries, if they're big enough, no matter what they're called, can just help themselves to what they want,

Rasmussen said

We are Greenlanders. We don't want to be Americans. We don't want to be Danish either. Greenland's future will be decided by Greenland,

Egede said on Tuesday

Strategically, when you look at it, it’s wealthy in resources,

Ogles said Tuesday on Fox Business's Mornings with Maria Bartiomo

Right now, Greenland has the attention of the whole world. That is really good, and it’s about time that Greenland gets some more attention.”

Gronvold told VOA

Everything is about the visit of Trump Junior, and when you meet people, it’s all we talk about,

Nielsen told VOA in an interview at the Sermitsiaq newsroom in Nuuk

If the U.S. went in and were to acquire Greenland, they would suddenly also have to pay the bill for running Greenlandic society — a bill that's being covered by the Danish government right now and which runs along the lines of U.S. $750 million to U.S. $1 billion a year,

Rahbek-Clemmensen said

It’s a small number of people here who are really happy that Trump Junior came to Greenland. And a small number of people really resent him coming here. But the large majority are not that loud because only the two extremes are being heard,

Nielsen said

I think we are in a terrible situation,

Nuuk resident Per Chemnitz said

[The ... The U.S.] gets all its interests, and it doesn't have to pay the bill. And so, geopolitically speaking, it doesn't really make that much sense to change that situation. So, if I were to explain why Trump has an interest in Greenland… I would say that it probably has to do with the whole ideology of Make America Great Again,

he told VOA

Greenlanders themselves must decide what our future looks like,

Greenlandic Premier Mute Egede said during a live televised debate on Sunday with political leaders from Denmark and Greenland

We are not a commodity. And we are not for sale,

she told VOA

If you cut through the rhetoric, I hear two messages from the U.S.,

she said

We need to trade with the U.S.,

Egede said at a press conference in Greenland on January 14, ... according to public broadcaster KNR

Sherri W. Goodmanamerican government official

We're about to enter an era of increased economic integration and tourism with Greenland,

Sherri Goodman, secretary general of the International Military Council on Climate & Security, told Newsweek

Múte Bourup Egedeprime Minister

Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland."

Both the governments in Greenland and Denmark have strongly rebuffed Trump's claims over Greenland, with the island's Prime Minister Múte B. Egede posting on Facebook

It is very understandable that people are worried. But the most important thing now is that people remain calm,

Egede said

Andy Oglesmonday, GOP Representative

We are, quite frankly, the dominant predator.”

Trump’s fixation with Greenland has been backed by his party, including Republican congressman Andy Ogles, who authored a bill to allow the U.S. to purchase the island and told Fox News Tuesday

The Greenlandic people must make it clear what they want to be. We do not want to be Danes. We do not want to be Americans,

he said

There is no question of the EU letting other nations in the world, whoever they may be, attack its sovereign borders

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told the France Inter radio station